Ruckus in Lok Sabha as BJP levels hawala charge at Congress

BJP’s Kirit Somaiya, who raised the issue during Zero Hour, said: “I want to know of the Finance Minister and Ananth Kumar (Minister for Parliamentary Affairs) — who is this hawala operator?” Somaiya mentioned a name but it was expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan from the record.

Lok Sabha proceedings came to an abrupt end on Friday after a BJP member levelling allegations of financial irregularities against the Congress led to a ruckus. BJP’s Kirit Somaiya, who raised the issue during Zero Hour, said: “I want to know of the Finance Minister and Ananth Kumar (Minister for Parliamentary Affairs) — who is this hawala operator?” Somaiya mentioned a name but it was expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan from the record.

He claimed that Rs 4 crore had been transferred from Bengaluru and Rs 3 crore had reached a bank account in Delhi (the name of the account holder was also removed from the record).

Somaiya said a mother (of Karnataka minister D K Shivakumar) was alleging in Bengaluru that her son had been trapped in a case by someone (he mentioned a name that was removed from the record). He alleged a scam of “Rs 2,000 crore in the award of the Kolar project”.

“Who is giving energy to the Congress?” Somaiya asked. “So many people were hosted at a resort in Bengaluru. Where is the money coming from? Let Congress people answer where the Rs 3 crore came from.”

At this, Congress leaders sprang to their feet and walked to the Well, shouting slogans. BJP members countered them by backing Somaiya. As the din continued, the Speaker was heard saying that she had foreseen the uproarious scenes and had, therefore, scheduled the matter for the last in Zero Hour. She called it a day and adjourned the House till August 8.